‘They’re certainly better for brown bears,’ Toklo declared. ‘I’ll mark out my territory before the snow comes, and then I’ll dig myself a nice warm den and settle down to wait for the sun to come back.’ He yawned as if he was ready to close his eyes right now. ‘Then I’ll wake up and find a river, and catch all the fish I can eat. That’s the best way for bears to live – isn’t that right, Ujurak?’

The smaller brown cub jumped. ‘What?’

Lusa realised that Ujurak hadn’t said a single word while the rest of them were remembering their homes and making plans for the future. ‘Is something wrong?’ she asked.

Ujurak’s puzzled brown gaze rested on her. ‘I . . . I don’t know,’ he began uncertainly. ‘I mean, yes, something is wrong, but I’m not sure what it is.’

Toklo gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Ujurak, your brain’s full of fluff! We’re here, we’ve made it. This is a good place, with all the prey we can eat and not a flat-face in sight. This is the end of the trail.’

Ujurak straightened up, raising his snout. ‘No,’ he replied; his voice was stronger now and more certain. ‘I don’t know exactly what is wrong, but I know one thing for sure. This isn’t the end of our journey.’

Lusa remembered uneasily that when Ujurak had first looked down at the plain from the slopes of Smoke Mountain, he hadn’t been sure that this was the place they were looking for. Now he seemed to have made up his mind. She felt even more uneasy when she remembered the dream that had come to her in the mountains, the dream that told her that she must save the wild. She had managed to push it out of her mind for a while, but Ujurak’s doubts had brought it back.

‘It is the end, Ujurak,’ Toklo protested. ‘It has to be. There’s nowhere else to go.’ He gestured with one paw at the sea below. ‘This is as far as we can travel without getting our paws wet.’

Ujurak gazed down at the stretch of wrinkled grey water with the encroaching ice glistening on the horizon. Then he looked back at Toklo. His brown eyes were pleading for one of them to understand what he was saying. ‘I know you must be right . . . but if this is the end, then why don’t I feel it?’

Chapter Three: Toklo

CHAPTER THREE:

Toklo

Toklo let out a huff of exasperation. ‘Stop being such a worry-face!’ he exclaimed, giving Ujurak an affectionate shove that almost carried the smaller bear off his paws.

‘I’m not a worry-face,’ Ujurak protested. ‘It’s just . . .’

His voice trailed off. Toklo shook his head in confusion. He had never truly understood Ujurak’s impulse to keep travelling, following his invisible path past places that would make great territories.